On The Run 2
by Aaron M. Brandt
Summary: Aaron and LeAnn grow closer, and then Aaron learns the truth…


**Warning:** You should only read this book if you have read "On the Run." If you have not, read it! Otherwise, you will not understand this one!  
_A.M Brandt_

Notes: Well... here it is again, sorta... the sequel to the first. Just thought I should mention a few things about this story before you begin. First: Yes, it is fanfiction. More specifically, a new subgenre of fanfiction that for the time being, I call 'music fanfiction'. I integrate musicians into the story same as someone might integrate the Incredibles or whatever into their story. Second: Yes, I include myself in the story as myself, not out of ego, but out of a great difficulty of coming up with a character and also because in the dream that inspired the story, I was in it, not some made-up character (not that there's anything wrong with that). Third: This story was written over the course of about 5 years back in 7th (or was it 8th) grade (1997 through 2002 roughly) and remains pretty much unchanged (with minor corrections for grammar and spelling and other such corrections).  
Other than that, it's just a fanfiction story... so don't take it as anything true/real.  
Oh... and one other thing... I, of course, don't own anything/anyone mentioned herein besides myself. I can only wish I could make some amount of money off this story.

Cast: (All characters are played by themselves)

Eithne Nì Bhraonaìn: Christine's best friend.  
Stevie Nicks: Aaron's aunt.  
Christine McVie: Aaron's aunt.  
LeAnn Rimes: Aaron's best friend, engaged to Aaron.  
Aaron Brandt: Engaged to LeAnn, living in Australia.  
Lindsay Buckingham: Aaron's uncle.  
Mick Fleetwood: Aaron's uncle.  
Jonathan McVie: Aaron's uncle.

SoundTrack and Placement  
"Your Life is Now" by John Mellencamp: Aaron and LeAnn go their own ways and live their lives in the present, trying not to look back  
"To Love You More" (Live version from 1998 VH1 Honors) by Celine Dion: Played in its entirety during the wedding ceremony  
"Great Southern Land" by Icehouse: Aaron looks back on everything that lead up to now while looking over the Australian landscape  
"The Memory of Trees" by Enya: Aaron asks LeAnn to marry him  
"On The Run" (Studio version) by Pink Floyd: Aaron is haunted by the dream of the night of his parents disappearance  
"The Trees" (Studio version) by Rush: Aaron and the members of Fleetwood Mac consider a trek into Australia's jungle  
"Congratulations" by The Traveling Wilburys: Aaron and LeAnn's marriage falls apart  
"The Mystics Dream" by Loreena McKennit: Aaron goes outside Enya's castle to investigate something out there  
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin: Aaron rushes into LeAnn's room before leaving for Maine  
"Anywhere Is..." by Enya: Christine gets to meet Enya after a Clannad concert  
"Detox Mansion" by Warren Zevon: Aaron researches more into the history of his house in Maine  
"Heartache" by Warren Zevon: Enya, Lindsey and Christine wait around the hospital waiting room and hope for the best for LeAnn  
"Only if..." (Studio version) by Enya: Enya works on a new song while Aaron naps and LeAnn bathes

Prologue

Aaron was amazed at what he had done. Everything that had happened. Discovering he was not related to LeAnn Rimes, being chased across the United States, almost dying in a car crash; it all seemed like too much.  
Aaron Brandt, who was now eighteen, had been engaged to LeAnn Rimes a week earlier, had now begun recalling the past. The past of which now had almost no record. It was overwhelming. All the feelings, all the laughter, the fun times, were overcome by the bad.  
He still occasionally experienced pain in his chest where the shard of bone entered his lung. LeAnn seemed unhurt. Unhurt to the unaided eye. Nevertheless, if she underwent a careful medical examination, it would show her heart was slowly going.  
It would not show physically for a couple weeks. However, Aaron was worried. She did not seem as active as she used to be. She was still as gentle as she always was.  
LeAnn first noticed her troubles after they left the Opera House. She felt faint. Then after a big concert, who would? Still, she showed no signs of weakening. Aaron knew she was the one for him after they first met. They were still living in Australia.

(End of Prologue)

Chapter 1 (Setting: In the city of Melbourne, Australia. It is August 13th of 1999 at 3:00 P.M.)

It had been a week of mixed emotions. They had already had three concerts throughout New Zealand and Australia. Everyone seemed to be thinking that the two of them would get married, but it was just another rumour. Mick Fleetwood, Lindsay Buckingham, Christine and Jonathan McVie, Stevie Nicks, Andy Kilanowski, Mike Metzger, and Ms. Karlyn Doyle had returned to America. Aaron had been notified that Rick had been shot and killed the day that Aaron and Fleetwood Mac had gotten into town.  
It was raining. Had been raining for the past two days and it was slowly approaching flood level.  
"Keep those sand bags coming!" Aaron shouted.  
"Here!" Someone shouted as he threw a sand bag to Aaron. They had many volunteers since Aaron contacted his relatives in Ireland.  
"Aye! This is more than I had planned for!" Will Bacon shouted as he helped build the wall higher. Normally, it did not rain this much, but the global warming had affected the weather patterns.  
"Where's LeAnn?" Aaron shouted.  
"I don't see her!" Someone to his left shouted.  
"Johan! Alex! Help me find LeAnn!" Aaron ordered.  
"And the rest of ye, keep working!" Johan shouted. The three of them quickly checked through the town in which they were trapped. Suddenly, a bulldozer started up.  
"Who is it?" Will asked. Aaron looked through his binoculars.  
"It's LeAnn!" She began digging a trench to the nearest river. The flood began emptying into the river, then into the ocean.  
"Yeah! Good work, LeAnn!" Alex shouted. The storm began subsiding. It was apparent LeAnn was out of breath.  
"LeAnn! You were great! I was worried! I didn't know where you were! I'm so proud!" Aaron said.  
"Let's head home, get cleaned up, then meet at the coffee shop at five thirty." Will suggested.  
"Okay, see you then!" Aaron said, as he turned and started walking home with LeAnn.  
"Sometime we should go and visit Mick and the guys!" LeAnn suggested.  
"Well, they're on their way here!" Aaron explained, "I've been trying to remember the details of the night of the night my parents disappeared. All I remember is someone saying, 'Here today! Gone tomorrow! That's it!' followed by the sound of running footsteps. And, that maniacal laughter!" Aaron shuddered at the thought. They got home and cleaned up. "Instead of staying in town, how about we go for a drive?" He asked. LeAnn did not answer.  
"LeAnn! Where'd you go?" Aaron said. He began searching his house. Eventually he came to LeAnn's room, and he opened the door.

(End of Chapter 1)

Chapter 2 (Setting: In the same city and the same date, but it is now 3:45 P.M.)

She was asleep. Apparently, the excitement had tired her out. He gently closed her bedroom door, and went to his desk to study more about his house in Maine. Warren and Elizabeth Detox previously owned it. They died in 1980 and immediately thereafter; the house was sold and finally bought by Aaron's parents. No one knows how or why he or she died.  
The house was a mansion: two bathrooms, four bedrooms, two living rooms, one kitchen, and four levels. Everything Warren and Liz Detox had was left when the house had been sold. Aaron decided that once he was done with the articles, he would take a nap. Three hours later, a knocking on the front door waked him.  
"Just a second." Aaron said as he looked around for his glasses.  
"Hi, guys!" He said as he opened the door. It was Fleetwood Mac.  
"How're you?" Lindsay asked as he and the others followed Aaron in.  
"Not bad! The monsoon season is finally over! Hold on, I'll get LeAnn! She's in taking a nap." Aaron said. Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsay Buckingham, Jonathan McVie, and Christine McVie took their coats off and sat down.  
"I'm sorry, but she is feeling a bit under the weather. So, how have you guys and gals been up to?" Aaron asked.  
"Oh, nothing really. We were just wondering if you two would want to go walking through the jungle with us?"  
"Yeah, I think we could do that!" Aaron replied.  
"Let's do that tomorrow. It's getting late. Let's watch a movie! Any suggestions?" Aaron asked.  
"How about a music video?" Lindsay asked.  
"Do you have 'MoonShadows' by Enya?" Christine asked.  
"As a matter of fact, I do!" Aaron said as he put the movie in. Everyone in the house loved Enya's music.  
"The variety of instruments in her music is incredible!" Stevie observed.  
"I know!" Aaron said in response. After the video, they all went to bed. That night, as Christine slept, she dreamt about the day that she met Eithne.  
"Christine McVie! I've always wanted to meet you!" Eithne said.  
"Same here! I've been one of your greatest admirers since I first heard your music!" Christine explained. They went to a local teahouse and had a couple cups of tea each, and afterward Eithne gave Christine her address and phone number.  
"Feel free to visit or call anytime, or if you get in trouble and need help, let me know!" Eithne said. As Eithne said that, the alarm clock went off.

(End of Chapter 2)

Chapter 3 (Setting: August 14th, 1999 9:30 AM Melbourne, Australia)

"Ah, LeAnn! You must be feeling better!" Mick said.  
"LeAnn! You're up!" Aaron said, surprised.  
"Morning! How are you guys and gals doin'?" LeAnn asked.  
"Just fine. We arrived last night. You were in sleeping, so we tried to keep it quiet out here." Stevie said.  
"Well, what do we wanna go and do today?" Aaron said.  
"I know someone. But, I don't know if she's home or not." Christine said. Aaron sat down in his oak chair.  
"Who is that?" Aaron asked.  
"First, I'll call her and then you'll find out who." Christine said as she dug through her coat pockets until she found Eithne's number.  
"Can I use your phone for long distance?" Christine asked.  
"It's free... why not." Aaron answered from behind the newspaper. Christine dialed the number.  
"Hello?" The person on the other end answered.  
"It's me, Christine!" Christine said.  
"Christine! How are you?" The other person asked after a second of silence as she tried to remember who Christine was.  
"Great! Are you going to be around later today?"  
"Yes, why?"  
"Me and six others wanted to stop by for a visit." Christine explained.  
"Sounds fun. Are you going to be staying at my place or just passing through?" The other person asked.  
"Would it be any trouble for us to stay there for at the most two nights?"  
"No, no trouble at all!"  
"Great! We'll be there by three o'clock this afternoon."  
"I'll meet you at the airport."  
"Alright. Bye!"  
"Bye." The other person said before hanging up.  
"Who was that?" LeAnn asked.  
"My Best friend, Eithne Nì Bhraonaìn." Christine answered.  
"When and how on Earth did you meet her?" Aaron asked, looking up from his paper.  
"She had gotten done with a concert while she was still with Clannad, and was informed by one of her guards that I was in the audience. I was then allowed to go backstage to her dressing room." Christine explained. Stevie was already on the phone reserving the tickets.  
"Well... I got us seats on the next flight to Ireland. We don't have long to catch the plane." Stevie said. They all headed to their rooms to grab their necessary things. They all brought their instruments.  
"Let's walk to the airport! It's only a couple blocks away." Aaron suggested. They arrived at the airport on time and got on the plane. The flight took about nine hours to get to Ireland. Once the plane stopped and the passengers got off, Mick got his drums and suitcase while Lindsay, LeAnn and Jonathan got their guitars and suitcases. Eithne already had Christine's instrument waiting at her house.  
"Eithne! How nice to see you again!" Christine said as she gave her friend a quick hug.

(End of Chapter 3)

Chapter 4 (Setting: August 14, 1999 2:35 PM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

"Haven't seen you for a while! Whom did you bring with?" Eithne asked.  
"This is Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsay Buckingham, Jonathan McVie, Aaron Brandt and LeAnn Rimes." Christine introduced.  
"Um, you must be Eithne Nì Bhraonaìn." Aaron said, amazed that he was standing face to face with a real legend.  
"Please call me Eithne. I'm an admirer of your music!" She said, turning to LeAnn as they drove to Eithne's castle, which was almost twice the size of Aaron's Detox mansion. Once there, they hauled their bags and instruments into the castle.  
"Please, sit... this, now, is as much your house as it is mine." Eithne said as they sat down in the living room. LeAnn opened her guitar case and got out her twelve-string.  
"Hope this thing is still in tune." LeAnn said as she made some minor adjustments to the tuning. She was good at playing guitar. Eithne came in and joined them.  
"Christine, do you want your piano in here?" She asked.  
"If it isn't too much trouble." Christine replied. Eithne left the room to go and get Christine her piano.  
"This is interesting..." Aaron said.  
"Huh?" Jonathan inquired.  
"My house in Maine... the security system says that one of the doors is open!" Aaron read off the screen.  
"Well, we're heading back tomorrow. We could stop and check it out." Mick said. Aaron set the laptop next to him after signing off the Internet. Eithne came back pushing a baby grand piano with ease.  
"I put enough wax on the floors to go skating on them!" She said with a smile. Christine sat down at the piano and played a few relaxing pieces. By the time she was done, it was ten-thirty at night.  
That night as Aaron slept, he dreamt once more about the night of his parents' disappearance. In the dream, he saw himself sitting up in bed. He was woken up by the sound of the front door being kicked down. After a minute of silence, he dismissed it as the sound of the shutters banging against the side of the house and lie back down. Less than a minute after lying back down, he heard the sound of footsteps and laughter running down the hall. There was a glow like that produced by fire on the ceiling. Too scared to move, he laid there on his bed motionless. Then, not even two minutes later, he heard the footsteps and laughter run past his room muffled by the words 'Here today, gone tomorrow. That's it!' spoken by someone with what sounded like a European accent. Then, it was early morning.  
Aaron woke from the dream, relieved and scared at the same time to be awake. He quickly checked through everyone's rooms to make sure no one was missing when he caught the sound of chanting drifting to him form somewhere outside of the castle. He grabbed his laser rifle and slid outside to try to find the source of the chanting. He heard the sound of a fire crackling around the corner behind which he was standing. Aaron charged the laser and jumped around the corner.  
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We were just trying some of this spell-casting stuff!" The young man said as he turned around. Aaron discharged the laser into the sky.  
"Come on! Get out before I arrest you!" He said as he showed his FBI badge.  
"We're going! Hold your horses!" The young girl who was with the young man said. Once they were off Eithne's property, Aaron went back inside and back to sleep.

(End of Chapter 4)

Chapter 5 (Setting: August 15, 1999 7:45 AM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

In the morning, Aaron was the first one up. He thought to himself that he would be nice and make breakfast for everyone once they got up. Soon after he got breakfast done and the table set, the others came down.  
"G' morning! How'd you sleep?" Aaron asked.  
"Well, what a pleasant surprise? You made all this yourself?" Eithne asked.  
"I was up early, so I decided to make breakfast." Aaron said.  
"When we lived in Maine, I tried some of his cooking. And, it's excellent!" LeAnn said. Aaron's cell phone started ringing.  
"Hello?" Aaron said as he answered it. Mick and the others had already left.  
"It's me, Mick. Nothing's missing, but four of the windows are broken." Mick explained.  
"Was there anyone in the house when you got there?"  
"No, but it looks like someone tried to break down the door on your computer room."  
"Did they get in?"  
"Nope... I will have to call you back. There's someone at the door." Mick said, and then the line cut off. Aaron turned the cell phone off.  
"Well, let's have breakfast, shall we?" Aaron suggested. They sat down in the humongous dining room and had a relaxing breakfast. Once they had finished eating, they went to the mall in Dublin. Once there, they noticed there were many ill-looking people walking around.  
"What on Earth happened here?" LeAnn asked.  
"I'm not sure. What kind of virus could ask this fast?" Eithne asked.  
"Maybe I should call the FBI back home and ask around regarding any epidemics that may be around." Aaron said as he got his cell phone out. He dialed the number and waited for the phone to uplink to the satellite.  
"Hi. It's me, Aaron. Would ya put me through to the lab? K... thanks." Aaron said. LeAnn and Enya were trying to ask the few people who seemed unaffected what happened, but with no results.  
"Science department." The doctor said.  
"Good. You're there, Morgan. Are there any new epidemic cases in?" He asked.  
"Um, nope. Nothing new. Why? You got something new?" Morgan asked.  
"Yeah. The mall in Gweedore, Ireland seems to be infested by something that I cannot identify. I suggest you initiate the quarantine procedures immediately." Aaron said as he surveyed the scene that was spread out before him.  
"Cecilia! Quarantine procedure twenty-nine see in Gweedore, Ireland." Morgan ordered his assistant, who in turn, punched in the authorization codes to alert the Center for Disease Control.  
"We'll be waiting." Aaron said before hanging up. Her intuition told LeAnn that they should not be here; that they were in danger by just being here.  
"Aaron, we should get out of here!" LeAnn spoke up. Aaron could here the impatientness in her voice.  
"I'm afraid we can't leave here for fear that we may spread whatever it is to the rest of the population." Aaron calmly said.  
"Hey, where'd Eithne go off to?" LeAnn asked.  
"I thought she was with you!" Aaron said as he scanned what he could see of the store.  
"Great!" LeAnn said under her breath.

(End of Chapter 5)

Chapter 6 (Setting: August 15, 1999 12:17 PM Gweedore, Ireland)

"Enya! Where are you?" LeAnn and Aaron called in unison. They were running around the mall trying to find Eithne. Once they had circled the entire mall several times, they had reached the point from which they had started and had not seen any signs of her.  
"Where have you guys been?" Eithne asked.  
"We were trying to find you!" Aaron exclaimed.  
"I had gone to use the facilities. You must have been so involved with trying to figure out what happened here, you didn't see me leave." She explained. The three of them had started walking towards the main entrance to wait for the FBI to arrive. After one and a half hours of waiting, they finally arrived. The first people who were checked were the people who were infected when Aaron, LeAnn, and Eithne arrived. About half of them had died before Morgan and his team arrived. The other half was rushed to the General Hospital towards the center of town.  
"Aaron, LeAnn, and Eithne! We have to check you kids out before you guys leave." Cecilia said. The three of them walked over to Morgan and followed the instructions that Morgan gave them. There was nothing immediately present in any of them.  
"It'll be about two days until the results of the blood tests and urine tests come back. Until then, just hang tight. From what we can see here, you folks are fine. We'll call you when we get the results." Morgan explained. LeAnn looked a little pale, but Aaron guessed that it was from the fact that there were dead men, women, and children in the mall.  
"Come on. Let's get out of here! I'm starting to feel a little queasy." Eithne said.  
"Yeah... that sounds like a good idea. Then, let's go over to Castle Douglas, Scotland. I hear that Ace Of Base is doing a concert there." LeAnn weakly said.  
"You don't sound so good. Maybe we should wait a couple days." Aaron suggested.  
"Well, I can stay at Eithne's house..." LeAnn started to say, but Aaron cut her off by saying,  
"Absolutely not! You're not feeling well, so you're not going' to stay there by yourself!" LeAnn turned so she was facing him.  
"Who says that I can't take care of myself? I used to take care of myself when I was a little girl and I was still living with my parents!" LeAnn exclaimed angrily at Aaron. Eithne was a little worried that they may get into a serious fight.  
"Come on, let's not fight about it. If the young girl wants to stay home, she can. If she says she can take care of herself, she can." Eithne broke in. What she said made sense to the both of them. "Now, hug and say you're sorry." LeAnn and Aaron did as Eithne had asked. After they apologized to each other, they shared a short burst of laughter amongst themselves. As they exited to Aaron's car, the crowd of onlookers who were trying to figure out what happened in the mall simultaneously cast a curious glance towards the three who were walking out of the mall.  
Aaron was returning their stares when something caught his eye. He could not make out what exactly it was, but from what he was able to see, it was a graphic that someone had painted on the side of a building. It read: 'She knows the truth... ask her'. He was not sure what it meant, but he had his ideas about it.  
"Look at that!" Aaron said to Eithne and LeAnn.  
"What?" LeAnn asked as she tried to figure out where Aaron was looking.  
"What are you talking about? There's nothing there!" Eithne said with a touch of disbelief in her voice. Aaron looked at the same place again, and to his wonder, there was nothing there. This caused him to stop in his tracks and seriously consider what he had just seen. Things like this had happened to him on two other occasions.  
The first had been when LeAnn had called him from the airport. Aaron did not see the whole vision, but he saw was himself carrying LeAnn's bags into his house. The second one happened right before the accident in Saint Joseph, Minnesota. That one had been of him lying in a hospital bed with LeAnn knelt beside his bed in prayer. Following each of the visions, he was hit by a wave of dizziness.  
"Aaron, you alright?" LeAnn asked, grabbing his arm to steady him. Aaron leaned up against his car and waited for the dizzy spell to pass.  
"I don't think we're going anyplace but back to my house tonight." Eithne said under her breath.  
"I'll be alright. It's happened before a couple times." Aaron said. They piled into the car with LeAnn driving back to Eithne's house. Once there, Aaron was out first followed closely by Eithne and LeAnn behind him. After they got inside, Aaron went straight to his room to take a nap. LeAnn went to take a bath and Eithne went to her Library to work on a new song.  
While Aaron slept, he dreamt that LeAnn was in the hospital. She had been wheeled into the elevator. In the dream, Aaron heard the cable snap and its passenger's screams. Right before the elevator hit the bottom, he was startled awake by the sound of something falling down the stairs.  
He got out of bed and went out to the landing of the third floor stairs. As he looked down the stairs leading to the first floor, he saw what... or who had fallen down them.

(End of Chapter 6)

Chapter 7 (Setting: August 15, 1999 6:34 PM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

"Oh, dear God!" Aaron screamed as he realized who had fallen down the stairs. Eithne, who had heard the commotion over her harpsichord, came running out of her library on the first floor.  
"What on Earth...?" She started saying, but was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Eithne ran over and opened the door.  
"Lindsay! Christine! We need your help!" Eithne cried.  
"What the hell... What happened?" Lindsay gasped as he realized who was lying at the bottom of the stairs.  
"We're not sure! All I heard was someone falling down the stairs." Aaron quickly explained. Christine was trying to find Eithne's phone.  
"Eithne, where do you have your phone?" She asked.  
"I don't have one." Eithne answered.  
"We'll have to drive her to the hospital. Aaron, where's your car?" Lindsay asked.  
"What'dya mean? It's right out front!" Aaron said.  
"No, it's not. I never saw any car out front."  
"Damn!" Aaron thought it over a second, "We're gonna hafta carry her to the hospital." Aaron deduced. Eithne tried shaking LeAnn awake.  
"LeAnn, you okay?" She whispered to LeAnn.  
"What if she broke her back when she fell down the stairs? We can't move her, then!" Christine remembered from her brief training in first aid.  
"Son of a bitch! We'll have to chance it!" Aaron exclaimed angrily. He then got up and began searching for something to use as a stretcher to move her.  
"Eithne, you have any leaves for the table?" Aaron asked.  
"Yes, it's in the table. Why?" Eithne asked.  
"I've got an idea, and it just might work." Aaron answered.  
"I think I understand already. Use the leaf as a stretcher to carry her to the hospital. Very ingenious!" Christine explained to Eithne while Aaron and Lindsay ran off to the dining room to get the leaf.  
"How're we going to keep her from sliding off of the leaf?" Eithne asked once the two men came back hauling the leaf.  
"Do you have any sashes?" Aaron asked.  
"I believe I do! Just a second." Eithne replied as she ran off to her room and dug through her dresser and closet until she found two of them. Aaron already had her on the stretcher and was checking her pulse.  
"Okay! Tie'em tight!" Aaron ordered as he and Lindsay tied the sashes around LeAnn's motionless body.  
"What about your satellite phone?" Lindsay asked.  
"I left it in the car." Aaron replied. "Alright, we better get going now before the sun sets." He said looking out the window. The sun was about an hour and a half from setting.  
"It's at least a mile to the hospital! We can't possibly make it there on foot!" Christine said. Aaron and Lindsay had already lifted LeAnn off the floor on the makeshift stretcher.  
"Come on! We gotta go!" Aaron urged as he and Lindsay left the house. Eithne and Christine were not far behind.

(End of Chapter 7)

Chapter 8 (Setting: August 15, 1999 6:51 PM En route to Gweedore General Hospital, Gweedore, Ireland)

As their seemingly endless trek made slow progress towards the destination, Aaron calculated in the back of his mind how long it should take to reach their destination. As he figured it, it should take them about forty-five minutes to reach the hospital. After about four-fifths of an hour, they came within a distance of two hundred yards of the destination.  
"Aaron, we gotta take a break before we end up like LeAnn." Eithne said between breaths. The day was gradually growing hotter with each passing hour. Since they had left the castle, they had been switching between the four of them with the job of carrying the stretcher.  
"God, I'm tired! I can't go any further!" Lindsay said as he sat down on the curb. Aaron sat down and took his tee shirt off.  
"Okay. Here's the plan: I'll run ahead and get an ambulance. You guys just stay here and wait." Aaron instructed.  
"Now, you can't go and run that far in this heat! You'll pass out or worse!" Lindsay said, trying to talk him out of it. Aaron just shook his head.  
"You just said it yourself that you're too tired to continue. We need to get help as fast as possible. If I pass out, this is the best place to pass out as any." Aaron grimly said. He got into his sprinting position as he had learned in track. For another couple of seconds, he stood like that taking deep breaths. After breathing deep for close to a minute, he took off. He covered the two hundred yards to the hospital in a record time of fifteen seconds. To him, it seemed like an eternity; because he was a light smoker, when he got to the hospital, he was a bit winded. Finally, he reached the administration desk.  
"My fiancée‚... needs... an ambulance." He got out between much needed gasps of air.  
"You can't come running into a hospital like that." John, the administration attendant that day, said. Aaron got his badge out and showed it to the man whose hospital badge identified as John.  
"Ambulance fourteen. Ambulance fourteen. Teenage Caucasian female. Unconscious. Location is at end of North driveway. Hurry." John said into the microphone. Almost immediately, the sirens on an ambulance started up and rushed into the distance. Aaron ran his fingers through his hair and noticed that he was shaking.  
Suddenly, his right hand pants pocket beeped. It was his pager. He went over to the nearest payphone and dialed the number displayed on the screen of the pager collect.  
"This Aaron?" The other person asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Let me guess: someone got in a bad accident?" The other person said. Aaron noticed that there was a slight delay on the phone due to the satellite relay system that was established between countries.  
"Who is this?" Aaron said, his voice slipping into its natural New England accent.  
"It's me, Morgan. I was checking out an Irish newspaper website when something about an American FBI agent running through a hospital over there and demanding an ambulance for his fiancée‚ popped up. What the hell is going on over there?" Morgan explained. Aaron knew that this meant that there had been a leak of information from within the hospital just recently. Either that or the whole thing was staged somehow.  
"The FBI agent was me and my fiancée‚ you read about is LeAnn Rimes. Do not blab any of this to any newspapers over there! Wait..." Aaron said as he heard the approaching sirens of an ambulance. "I'll call you back later." He said before hanging up.  
The moment the ambulance stopped, the back doors on it flung open and out jumped a doctor and a nurse. They placed LeAnn on a stretcher and rushed her off into the hospital. The last person out was another doctor who looked like he would be more at home with Timothy Leary out in the jungle. He was wearing Lennon-style glasses, a Gotti-styled beard and had shoulder length hair that was graying at the roots. Enya and Lindsay had followed the stretcher to the Emergency Room. That left Aaron and Christine with the doctor. The doctor came over to Aaron and introduced himself.  
"I'm Doctor Vince McGregor. You are..." Vince said, waiting for Aaron to introduce himself.  
"Agent Aaron Brandt, United States FBI." Aaron said.  
"Now, would you explain what happened?

(End of Chapter 8)

Chapter 9 (Setting: August 15, 1999 7:00 PM Gweedore General Hospital, Gweedore, Ireland)

"I was in my room taking a nap. I must have been asleep for about forty-five minutes, when I heard something fall down the stairs. It woke me up and I came out to see what it was and I found LeAnn at the bottom." Aaron explained anxiously.  
"I'm sorry, but we need you to fill out the paperwork." Vince calmly said. Aaron looked at him with utter disbelief.  
"I'm being told to forget about my fiancé and fill out this all important paperwork! This is an outrage! If you want the paperwork filled out that bad, contact the FBI back in America." Aaron forcefully told Vince before pushing past Vince and hurrying to the Emergency Room. A couple of orderlies started after him, but were stopped by Doctor McGregor.  
"Leave him go. Fax the US government with the paperwork." Vince explained. Aaron remembered right as he was entering the ER that he had to be dressed appropriately to enter the room. Therefore, hurriedly, he threw the right clothes on and entered the room to be by LeAnn's side during the operation if any. Upon entering and seeing the needles and Intravenous lines running into and out of her motionless body, he started to feel faint. Once he got out, he sat down on a bench and began to cry to himself. An orderly happened by and saw Aaron crying to himself.  
"What's the matter?" The orderly asked.  
"I don't even have the courage to stay by my fiancé's side through her surgery." Aaron explained.  
"Well, there are doctors who can't stand the sight of blood. Nevertheless, that does not make them any less of a doctor and the same goes for you. You're no more less of a man because you can't stand the sight of blood." The orderly said.  
"Dammit! You're right! She could need me!" Aaron exclaimed. He jumped up and was about to go back into the ER when his pager beeped. He looked at the number it displayed and called it from a phone in the hallway.  
"Y'ello!" Aaron said into the phone. Silence. He hung up after deciding it was a wrong number. He then went back into the ER. On his left was a cluster of doctors around a light box with several X-rays on it. There was also a group of nurses watching her vitals and running various tests on LeAnn.  
"Excuse me, but you can't be in here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nearest doctor said.  
"I'm with the FBI, and I demand to stay by my fiancé's side through surgery." Aaron explained. The doctor motioned Aaron to enter.  
"Alright, you can. Just don't get in the way." The doctor authorized.  
"What's wrong with her?" Aaron asked.  
"She has a weak heart. We can't tell when it started yet and we can't tell how long she'll live." The doctor explained.  
"Well, what can you do?" Aaron asked.  
"We cannot do anything until we get the test results." Said Vince, who had just entered the ER.  
"So, my fiancé may die any minute and all you're going to do is stand there?" Aaron asked.  
"We need to know what her blood type is so we don't give her the wrong blood type and we also may need a donor heart the right size." Vince explained.  
"Well, do what you guys and girls can for now." Aaron ordered.

(End of Chapter 9)

Chapter 10 (Setting: August 15, 1999 7:00 PM Gweedore Hospital, Gweedore, Ireland)

Eithne was busy pacing the floor in the waiting room while Lindsay and Christine tried frantically to get a hold of Mick, Jonathan, and Stevie. Finally, the phone in the waiting room rang.  
"Yes?" Eithne said into the handset.  
"They have isolated the cause. It appears to be a type of flu called Australian Flu. From what they have told me, it goes straight to the heart and destroys the heart muscle. The disease is rare and hard to cure because little is known about it." Aaron quickly explained.  
"What's going on?" Christine asked, snatching the phone away from Eithne.  
"For now, she's going to be fine. Her vitals have stabilized and we are now searching for a donor heart." Aaron said, recapping it for Christine.  
"Do you know how long it's gonna take to find the heart?" Christine asked.  
"No, we don't. Wait a minute... Hot damn! We found it! Gotta go. Call ya after the surgery." Aaron said before hanging up.  
"Christ, this is gonna be a long night! We're going to need something to eat before the night is over-with. But, we shouldn't leave the phone for too long in case something happens." Lindsay said.  
"I hope this all goes well! However, to take care of the food bit, How about this: One of us stays here while the others go and get something to eat. We'll bring something back for whoever stays behind. So, who is going to stay here?" Christine asked.  
"I will. I am kind of shy out in public." Eithne answered.  
"You know my pager number in case something happens while we are gone..." Lindsay trailed off.  
"Okay. Just hurry up." Eithne called after them as they ran to the elevator up the hall. Aaron, meanwhile, was trying to keep out from underfoot as the operating team set-up their instruments.  
"It's been half an hour; where the hell is the heart?" Aaron impatiently asked.  
"Just be patient. It'll be here... your girlfriend is in the hands of our most skilled technicians and surgeons." Vince explained.  
"It's here... is the support system online and working?" Doctor Carter, the doctor who brought in LeAnn's new heart, asked.  
"Okay, let's hurry up with this then." Vince directed.  
"How long is this going to take?" Aaron asked. All of the doctors started talking at once. Finally, Vince answered,  
"Assuming there are no complications should be about half an hour." Aaron sighed as they started the operation. All through the operation, Aaron held LeAnn's hand. About twenty minutes into the operation, Aaron dozed off at LeAnn's side. When he awoke, he was sitting next to LeAnn's hospital bed. He glanced down at his watch and, to his surprise, discovered it was two-thirty in the morning. Aaron got up and stretched, then went to find a nurse who could tell him what LeAnn's condition was. He was not sure where to go because he had apparently fallen asleep and had stayed like that when they moved him and LeAnn into the room in which he was now. Therefore, he wandered around the Intensive Care Unit until he found an orderly and he stopped her.  
"Excuse me, but I would like to know how my fiancé, LeAnn Rimes, is doing." Aaron asked the orderly.  
"What room is she in?" The orderly asked in response to Aaron's query.  
"I don't know what room, but I can show you where she is. It's in Intensive Care." Aaron replied. He and the orderly went back up to ICU and Aaron directed her to LeAnn's room. The orderly quickly found LeAnn's chart and informed Aaron of her condition.

(End of Chapter 10)

Chapter 11 (Setting: August 11, 1999 2:40 AM Gweedore General, Gweedore, Ireland)

"She is doing just fine with the new heart. Her body shows no signs of rejection at all. She is lucky you got her here when you did. I was surprised that she did not break any bones or fractures from falling down the stairs." The orderly said. Aaron sighed with relief at hearing this.  
"Thank you. You have no idea how big of a burden you just took off of my shoulders." Aaron said as he shook the orderly's hand. Then, he went back into LeAnn's room and sat down next to her bed in the chair that was there. Almost immediately, he fell back asleep.  
While he slept, he dreamt that her body started to reject her heart. The doctor's came and took LeAnn out of the room. They ran down to the emergency elevator. Aaron was a little behind them when they got to the elevator. They had gotten in and the doors had closed as per usual. As Aaron approached the elevator, the steel doors opened revealing the cables as the car she was in descended. To his horror, as Aaron watched, the cables that supported the elevator snapped one by one. As each cable broke, he could hear the people inside the elevator scream. Suddenly, as the last cable snapped, Aaron heard LeAnn's voice call out his name. The car seemed to fall in slow motion. Aaron had time to watch the counterweights rushing towards the bottom of the elevator shaft. As the car hit the bottom, Aaron woke up.  
Upon waking, he was strangely disoriented. He glanced over next to him and was shocked to find that LeAnn's bed was gone, along with her. Immediately, he tracked down a nurse and demanded to know what happened to his fiancé. The nurse informed Aaron that her condition had improved and she was moved to the first floor Intensive Care Unit during the night.  
"Why wasn't I woken and told of this?" Aaron demanded to know.  
"You were sleeping so soundly, we tried to wake you and you wouldn't wake, so we just moved her and left you to sleep." The nurse explained. Aaron apologized for getting so upset and started making his way to the first floor ICU. He was a little more than halfway when his pager went off. It indicated he had a message waiting on his voicemail for his satellite phone. It gave him the number for the voicemail system, which he called from the nearest phone collect. It took a couple seconds to initialize the voicemail system from overseas. There was one message waiting on it, which Aaron was able to access after entering his security codes. The message started play back instantaneously after it accepted the code.  
"It's… Mick… being held in your mansion… please help!" The entire message said. Aaron checked the number that the message was phoned from and it confirmed to be the number from his house. He immediately called the FBI headquarters and had them book him on the next flight to Bangor, Maine from Ireland. They did so without asking any questions, of which Aaron was thankful. He then proceeded to run as fast as possible to the first floor ICU and continued to the reception desk behind which sat an attendant.  
"What room is LeAnn Rimes in?" He asked upon arriving at the reception desk.  
"Room thirteen-A." The attendant said as Aaron started off for her room.  
"LeAnn! I'm sorry, but something came up back home in Maine. I have to go. I don't know much more than that right now, but I have to get going to the airport. Mt flight leaves in thirty minutes. I'm so glad you're doing better!" Aaron explained before giving her a quick kiss and hug. Then he rushed out and hailed a taxi. He told the cabbie to hurry to the airport. The airport was twenty-five minutes away, and when he got there, he had to go through the customs and get his visa checked by the security personnel. Finally, he was allowed to go to the ticket desk and was given his ticket after telling the person at the desk who he was. He just barely made it to his flight, but he was on his way to Bangor, Maine.

(End of Chapter 11)

Chapter 12 (Setting: 16 August, 1999 2:40 AM Bangor, Maine)

The flight took about five hours and it was early morning when he got to Bangor International Airport. The thing that struck him immediately was how quiet it was. At once, he set about trying to figure out how to get to Patten, Maine this early in the morning. Then, he remembered his car was at the airport from when LeAnn and him had left for Australia. He sat his duffel bag on the ground and began searching for his keys. Eventually, he found them and set about searching for his Riviera. After about ten minutes, he found his car, which had been moved from its spot at the front of the lot. After some amount of fumbling in the dim light, he managed to get the door unlocked and he got into it. Aaron inserted the key into the ignition and turned it first to accessories one and then with a sharp turn, he turned it to the start position.  
The starter engaged the solenoid, which clicked into place as it normally did, but instead of hearing the V-8 engine purr to life, there was only silence. Aaron pushed the gas pedal to the floor a couple times, being as he know the car and the problems of it; he knew that the car did not like to start after sitting for long periods of time. This time, when he tried to start it, the engine lethargically growled to life. He let it idle for a few seconds to warm the engine up while he ran over and grabbed his duffel bag. Aaron walked back over to the car and got in and when he went to put it in park, the car died. He put it back in park and tried to start it once again. This time, there was nothing; no solenoid engaging, no sounds from the engine compartment, nothing.  
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Aaron said aloud angrily at the car. He popped the hood on the car and started to examine the engine. The first thing he discovered was that the belt for the alternator either had snapped or had been cut by someone or something. The radiator had been drained of the coolant in it and in turn had been filled with what smelled like molasses. In addition, the fuel injection system's main vacuum hose had been punctured, which resulted in a puddle of gasoline gathering under the car.  
"Damn!" He said under his breath. Aaron then remembered he had a coat hanger in his duffel bag, which he could use to unlock a car to get to his house in Patten. He then set about finding a car he could easily take, which proved to be no easy task due to the fact most of these cars had electronic door locks in them. After some searching, he did manage to find one car made before 1980 that had the manual door locks in it, which he was able to unlock. After some more wasted time trying to hot wire the car, he got it going and after getting his bag, he was finally off. When he left he airport parking lot, it was already 3:24 in the morning, Bangor time. He was already over half an hour behind what he had set as a schedule, so he drove as fast as the car could go to his house. He made it there finally after having to ditch a cop who saw him speeding and getting lost on the way there due to his taking the side streets to evade the police unit that had been giving him chase.  
Upon arriving at his house, he saw the four windows that Mick had said were broken when Mick and Stevie arrived there. He also noticed that the front door had been ripped off its hinges and lay on the front lawn in splinters. Aaron stopped the car so he was blocking access to the driveway and got out of the car. He ran up to the house, and as he passed the remains of the front door, he found himself wondering what could do something like that to a solid oak door.  
On setting foot inside the house, he found himself scared to death of what may be waiting inside for him. However, for Mick and Stevie's sake, he had to be strong and face whatever may or may not be in the house. Right away, he tried the light switch; there apparently was no electricity on in the house. He then started digging through his bag looking for the flashlight he knew was in there somewhere. He found it, and while trying to find the switch in the pitch-blackness of the house, he lost his grip on the light and dropped it. In the darkness, he heard the light strike the floor and then heard the batteries clatter against the floor.  
"Damn! What next?" Aaron mumbled to himself. He got down on his knees and started searching for the batteries.

(End of Chapter 12)

Chapter 13 (Setting: 16 August, 1999 3:29 AM Detox Mansion, Patten, Maine)

Aaron, who had found the batteries and the end to the flashlight, was putting the light back together when he caught the odor of natural gas coming from someplace inside the house. Immediately, he ran out of the house as fast and as far away as possible. No sooner had he gotten out of the house, the phone rang. The ringer on the phone ignited the natural gas that had leaked into the house. Aaron had only enough time to duck to avoid the flying glass from the explosion but in the process, placed his hand upon a rusty nail, which went right through his hand.  
"Damn! That hurts!" Aaron cried. The explosion had taken the house clear down to the ground. The concussion had taken out the windows on a few of the neighboring houses. The surrounding neighbors were coming out of their houses trying to figure out what had happened.  
"What the holy fuck was that?" Someone asked.  
"My House… my everything!" Aaron said as he got up.  
"Damn! That's a hell of an explosion for a house! Where's all the debris?" Somebody else asked.  
"I don't… Oh, shit! Where are Mick and Stevie?" Aaron asked. The neighbors looked at him like he was a blithering idiot. Just then, the fire trucks began arriving on the scene. Suddenly, he remembered that he had forgotten about the deep slash in his hand. He ran over to the paramedic unit and had then patch up his hand as best they could with what they had with them.  
"My uncle, Mick Fleetwood and my Aunt Stevie Nicks were in the house when it blew up. I am not sure where they were in the house or if they were even in the house when it went." Aaron explained. The paramedic radioed over to the others and told them who was in the house when the explosion happened. Aaron thanked the paramedic unit for their help and proceeded to dig through the rubble looking for anything out of the ordinary. Aaron went back to the stolen car and got his duffel bag out to look for his pack of cigarettes when something in the bag started ringing. He went tearing through the bag until he found it and answered it.  
"Hello? Who is this?" Aaron said cautiously.  
"Hey boy! Where are you?" LeAnn said on the other end.  
"I'm standing in front of the remains of my mansion." Aaron explained while he watched the firefighters and paramedics put out the fires and look for anyone who was in it.  
"What'd you do now? Are you hurt? What happened?" LeAnn questioned.  
"I'd rather not talk about it over the phone like this. I'll be in Gweedore in about five hours or so. We'll talk then." Aaron said.  
"Alrighty then. See you soon!"  
"'Till then, hold tight!" After Aaron hung up his end of the conversation, he left for the airport. On his way there, he tried to figure out where the phone in his bag had come from and how he would tell LeAnn that very possibly Mick and Stevie were in the house when it exploded. He also had something else he wanted to do. He wanted too tell he that he wanted to marry her. They had gotten engaged almost three weeks prior and were growing closer, Aaron thought. Aaron wasn't sure if LeAnn was ready for that kind of a shock, even if Mick and Stevie were killed in the explosion. The way he had it figured, after some thinking, that he would tell her that Mick may have been killed and then wait with asking her to marry him until she got over Mick's death. Something told Aaron that Stevie was not in the house when it went. Maybe Mick was not even in the house. Maybe it was a setup to try to kill him. He made it to the airport relatively quick, so he had about fifteen minutes until his flight left, so he decided to get a bite to eat. After he checked in his bags and secured his ticket, he tiredly sauntered over to the smallish diner they had right there in the airport. After eating, he had just enough time to get to the gate his flight was boarding at and got on the plane and found his seat with no trouble. Once on board, he fell asleep and slept until they touched down in Gweedore. He got off the airplane and saw he had gotten there almost an hour early. Waiting for him at the airport… was LeAnn.

(End of Chapter 13)

Chapter 14 (Setting: 16 August, 1999 8:12 AM Dublin International, Dublin, Ireland)

"LeAnn." Aaron solemnly said. He ran to LeAnn and embraced her. He started to cry, but held it in. She sensed it and hugged him even tighter.  
"LeAnn, I think Mick was killed in my mansion back state-side when it exploded. I'm so sorry!" Aaron sobbed. LeAnn gasped as she heard of Mick's demise.  
"Oh, my God! I'm sorry! Are you okay? How'd it happen?" LeAnn gently asked.  
"I'm not really sure. All I know is that I was in the house and I smelled natural gas and I fled. As soon as I got outside the house, the phone rang and the ringer detonated the gas." Aaron explained.  
"Let's go back to Eithne's castle and get something to eat and then tell me all about what happened in Patten." LeAnn suggested. Aaron had a deep yearning to ask her but he figured he had better wait. For, if he asked her right then, she may take it like he was using Mick's untimely death to weaken her sensibility and get her to agree with it. LeAnn, who had never had a boyfriend before, wanted to ask Aaron to marry her but she was far too nervous to ask. So, the whole rest of that day, Aaron tried to call everyone he knew from the states to let them know of the latest development. Once he had done that, he took LeAnn out to dinner. Oddly enough, throughout the whole dinner, Mick's death never came up during their conversation over dinner. The next night, when LeAnn and Eithne got home from shopping, they were both surprised to find the castle was spotless.  
"Uh oh! What did he go and do now?" LeAnn half-jokingly asked. Aaron was in his room pacing, trying to figure out how he would ask her the big question. After a few minutes, Eithne came upstairs to work on a new song in her library. Aaron heard her coming up the stairs and followed her into the library.  
"Eithne, I have to tell you something. I am thinking of asking LeAnn to marry me, but I am afraid that she will turn me down. What should I do?" Aaron asked Eithne quietly so that LeAnn would not hear.  
"Well, you should be straight forward about it. Come right out and tell her that you want to marry her. If she turns you down, it may just be too early to ask her a question that serious. I think you should follow your heart in matters like this because your heart is never wrong." Eithne explained.  
"Alright! I'll do it. I'll ask her!" Aaron exclaimed as he jumped up and left her library. 19Eithne started playing one of her songs as Aaron headed downstairs. He found LeAnn in the living room talking on Aaron's satellite phone.  
"LeAnn, I… um… wanna ask you something… um… very important." Aaron stuttered nervously.  
"Okay, shoot!" LeAnn sarcastically said.  
"And, I'm not joking about this when I say it… I am deeply in love with you; have been in love with you since I first heard your singing. This important to me and I'm sure it will be to you as well. I've thought long and hard about this and have come to a final decision…" Aaron said as he reached into his pocket and dug something small out.  
"What is this all about? What are you talking about?" She asked, a little worried that Aaron was having some sort of breakdown and a little curious about what he had up his sleeve.  
"LeAnn…" Aaron put the object in his right hand, "Will you…" He got down on one knee in front of her and brought the object out from behind his back, "Marry me?" He finished as he slid the ring around her finger.

(End of Chapter 14)

Chapter 15 (Setting: 16 August, 1999 9:15 AM, Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

LeAnn took one look at the ring and was rendered wordless.  
"Bu… but… I…you… me… married?" LeAnn stuttered. Aaron took her hands in his.  
"But nothing. Somehow, we were meant for each other. I don't know how or why, but all I know is that I love you." Aaron explained.  
"What about the wedding and reception… where will it be and when and how are we, two people who are not even citizens going to get married in a strange country like this?" She asked.  
"Dear, don't worry! I already have everything all figured out and planned! I talked to immigration official from over here and he told me that you don't have to be a citizen to get married here. The ceremony is set to be held in Castle Douglas, Scotland in the civic center there and the reception will be held here in Manderley Castle. I have chartered a jet to fly us back and forth from here to there. The wedding ceremony itself will be held at three o'clock August 28, your birthday and the reception will be held after the ceremony back here. I have already invited all of my friends and family who can make it and hope that you can do the same." Aaron finished explaining. LeAnn was flabbergasted that he would go through all the trouble of setting up the wedding and reception ahead of time like that.  
"Wow! I… but… it doesn't have to be as complex as all that! All I want to do is marry you and have a nice, simple wedding!" LeAnn said.  
"Well, I was planning to announce this to the States after it happens, and shock the world with the news of it!" Aaron said. The next twelve days came and went without incident, and on the twelfth day at eleven o'clock in the morning, preparations finally began. Aaron and LeAnn grew increasingly nervous as the hour they had been anticipating inched closer and closer. Aaron had asked Eithne to perform the music to go with the ceremony.  
Two minutes before three in the afternoon, Eithne began playing the traditional wedding marches. At exactly three o'clock astronomical time, the wedding ceremony began. The entire wedding went as Aaron had planned. Then, right near the end of the preceding ceremony, as Aaron and LeAnn turned to leave the altar, Eithne brought out a special guest and friend of hers. As they reached the giant doors and passed through them, the special guest started playing a song that Aaron vividly remembered. Aaron and LeAnn spun around and to their surprise; the guest that Eithne had brought on stage was Celine Dion who began playing her song 'To Love You More'. On hearing the introduction to the song, Aaron almost started cheering and clapping but instead turned back around and continued walking down the aisle, which lead to outside the chapel. As soon as they were outside the chapel, Aaron gave LeAnn the biggest hug and kiss that he ever gave to anyone. LeAnn was the happiest she had ever been before in her life and so was Aaron.  
LeAnn knew that she would have to give up her country music career because she was no longer a citizen of the US.  
"I can't believe we actually did this! It's almost a storybook wedding!" LeAnn disbelievingly said.  
"I could be your prince and you could be my princess and we could live in our castle happily ever after." Aaron half-jokingly said. LeAnn seemed a little nervous, but then she had just gotten married to someone whose past she knew little about. The reception went great; there was lots to eat and drink and there was lots of laughter, music and dancing. By the time they were done with the reception, it was five in the morning and after the guests left; they both went straight to bed. All that night, LeAnn did not sleep very well; she was already having second thoughts about the marriage. She kept asking herself, 'What if it ended badly? What if one of them got sick? Would they stay true to each other?'. She also kept wondering if he would ever find out about her past. The past of which kept coming back to haunt her.

(End of Chapter 15)

Chapter 16 (Setting: 28 August, 1999 2:30 AM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

When she was quite young, she unknowingly cast a spell on her younger brother. LeAnn had been hanging out with some of her friends who were into the witchcraft scene. She and her friends had been trying to cast various spells on kids they did not get along with in school or around the neighborhood. The spell that she and her friends cast on her brother made LeAnn's brother disappear and anyone who knew him forgot about him. After the spell was cast, no one could remember anything about little Jimmy Rimes except for LeAnn and her friends who cast it. From that day forward, she never forgave herself for doing.  
As she lay there in her bedroom, she kept wondering if it was a good idea to be married and not have her husband know about what she did when she was a little girl. Finally, she got up and went downstairs and decided to write down her autobiography. She did not get very far when she began to fall asleep right in Eithne's study. This time while she slept, she played the wedding over in her dreams. It was the same wedding, but this time when the minister asked her if she took this man to be her lawful wedded husband in reference to Aaron, she said no then turned and ran off. In the dream, she cast a spell on herself that made her invisible to men.  
She then woke up and looked at her hands and body to make sure they were still there. Then, she got back up and went in to take a shower. After a quick shower, she got dressed and headed down to the kitchen where Aaron and Eithne were cooking a delicious-looking breakfast.  
"G'morning, hon. How'd you sleep?" Aaron asked as LeAnn walked into the kitchen.  
"I slept pretty well considering I've had a lot on my mind as of late." LeAnn said as she sat down at the table.  
"Like what, may I ask?" Eithne asked from the stove.  
"Well… uh… when I was young, I got into the whole Wicca scene and I accidentally cast a spell on my brother which made him vanish. I don't know what happened to him or anything. I just know that nobody has seen since… I think… nineteen-ninety." LeAnn explained. Aaron and Eithne stared at her in utter disbelief.  
"But, why did you wait until now to tell us? If you would have told us sooner, we my have been able to do something about it and maybe even bring him back. You can trust us with anything… anything that you can think of!" Aaron told LeAnn.  
"But, I'm ashamed of myself! I mean… he was my brother! He may not even be alive!" She said close to tears. Aaron went over and gave her a tender, loving hug. She threw her arms around him and cried on his shoulder.  
"LeAnn, it doesn't matter what you did when you were young… all that matters is who you are right now. And, what I see right now is an eighteen-year old girl who feels all alone in this crazy, messed up world. Well, there are still people out there who practice witchcraft. As long as you don't harm yourself, Eithne, myself or anyone we care about, I'm fine with it." Aaron finished. Eithne was watching this with a kind of curiosity.  
"LeAnn, I'm sorry to doubt you, but you don't seem like the kind of girl who'd practice Wicca." Eithne stated.  
"No one ever suspects the 'innocent' kid in a group of trouble-makers." LeAnn mumbled.  
"Nonsense! I think we should go out and have fun on the town. Oh, also, I have a concert tomorrow night in town here." If you want, I can get you tickets to it. Or, even better, you guys could come up on stage and perform a song or two with me or solo." Eithne suggested.  
"I would love to. How about you?" Aaron asked LeAnn. LeAnn looked around the room as if there was another LeAnn there with them. Finally, she answered,  
"Yeah! That would be fun!" She answered. Eithne took a couple tickets out of her handbag and handed them to LeAnn and Aaron.

(End of Chapter 16)

Chapter 17 (Setting: 29 August, 1999 6:00 PM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

The next day, LeAnn and Aaron did not make it to the concert because they decided to have a little talk.  
"I'm sorry that I kept my past hidden from you, but I thought that you wouldn't want me, and I completely understand if you hate me for what I did in the past, 'cause I even hate myself for doing it." LeAnn said in a shaky voice. Aaron took her hands in his.  
"Babe, I don't care about your past. Right now, what you did in your past isn't important, to me… what's important is that we love each other and care about each other. Aaron explained.  
"But, you keep saying that and I wonder why you love me even though I have done some bad things in my life…" LeAnn started saying, but was cut off by Aaron.  
"Why do you keep bringing up the things you did in the past? Why, when I was young, I did some bad things like trying drugs and stealing stuff from stores and causing trouble at school. But, when I met you, I put my past behind me, and pursed what I wanted in life; to be happy, meet the girl of my dreams someday and find out what happened to my parents. So far, I've fulfilled two of those three; being happy and meeting the right girl!" Aaron explained.  
"You're right of course. I promise that I won't bring it up again. Let's go do something fun. I was thinking I'd love to go to a movie. What's showing right now?" LeAnn asked. Aaron looked though the newspaper until he found the movie listings. He then read them to LeAnn and then they decided on a movie to go to.  
After the movie, they got home and went to bed. Their lives were pretty quiet for the next nine days. Aaron was getting more and more obsessed with the mystery of what happened to parents. He was also becoming more and more stressed from his job with the FBI because it was demanding the majority of his time so he was never home to spend time with LeAnn. LeAnn was getting fed up with not being able to spend time with her husband.  
So, one night while Aaron was away on a special assignment, LeAnn packed her things, booked a seat on the next flight to Dallas, Texas and left Aaron a note explaining what happened and for what reason she left.  
So, on September sixth, LeAnn left Aaron for home.

(End of Chapter 17)

Chapter 18 (Setting: 6 September, 1999 4:30 AM Manderley Castle, Killiney, Ireland)

Aaron got home at four-thirty in the morning of September sixth and immediately noticed that the castle was quiet. Eithne was in the US in the recording studio working on a new album, so the quietness was kind of expected by Aaron. He closed the door and switched on the lights. After he turned the lights on, he noticed that LeAnn's leather jacket was gone and so were her shoes. Aaron just assumed that they had been moved up to her room or one of the closets or she went someplace for the night. Aaron put his jacket on the couch and went into the kitchen to get something quick to eat.  
While he was making his snack, he happened to glance over at the counter where there was a note waiting for him. He picked it up and glanced it over and put it down then realized who it was from. He picked it back up and read it again and almost thought it was a joke. He then looked where the note had been sitting and noticed a small box sitting behind the note. He picked it up and almost had a heart attack when he realized it was the ring he had given LeAnn. There was a note, which was folded up very small, and put inside the ring box, which Aaron took out and read it:

'My Dearest Aaron,

When I first called you, I told you I knew what happened to your parents… Well, here it is.  
My parents and I actually work for the FBI, like you do, and they assigned me to keep an eye on you and see how you'd react to your parents vanishing. So, they planned it out with my parents being the ones who would carry it out and did just so. Then, nine years later, they took me on as an agent and told me to call you as your sister and check in on you to see just how you were taking the sudden loss of your parents. But, on meeting you, I dropped the long-lost sister act and fell in love with you.  
I am really sorry about all of this, and I wish that it didn't have to end this way.

Sincerely,  
LeAnn Rimes'

He had conflicting feelings about this news; he was sad to know that the only girl he truly loved had left him, happy that he finally found out what happened to his parents that night, and mad at the government for testing him like they did without his say-so on it. Aaron then decided that he need not stay at Eithne's castle without LeAnn there. So, he waited around for Eithne to get back from the states, then explained what happened while Eithne was gone, and after sharing a few tears, left.  
He headed straight to his favorite state back in the US; Arizona. He lived there for two years, and then he got tired of the desert so he moved back up north to Montana for three years. He continued to move around like this until he moved to Dallas, Texas where he actually fit in.  
LeAnn had rejoined her Wicca friends and made a few new friends who both believed in witchcraft and a few who did not. Soon after the breakup, Aaron became an alcoholic. LeAnn had changed her name to Nicole so that she would not be remembered as the country superstar she had been. The following year, she completely vanished off the music scene and so did her music.  
Aaron, meanwhile, became a disc jockey at a local radio station in Dallas. He never found where his parents were, but he had his ideas where they were being hidden. Eithne's music changed for the worse after LeAnn and Aaron's breakup. Mick's body was never recovered from the rubble of Aaron's house and no one seemed to know what happened to Stevie and no one ever heard from the members of Fleetwood Mac again.  
Aaron's life remained pretty quiet with little contact with the outside world save for his work as a DJ. LeAnn had cut off all contact with the outside world and exclusively hung out with her friends who practiced the type of witchcraft she did. Aaron still had all the pictures of LeAnn that he had and she still had the pictures of Aaron that she had from when they were together.  
They longed to be with each other but thought each other too unprepared to be together. So, they waited… and waited for the right time to come.

(End of Chapter 18)

Epilogue

In a detailed physical examination, it was determined that LeAnn had sustained severe, although not life threatening, injuries in the fall down the three flights of stairs. She proved to be unable to have children or even get pregnant due to the fact that her ovaries had been crushed in the fall. On learning this, she immediately became depressed and became a Goth. Right away, she went out and died her hair pitch black, bought the appropriate clothes, and pierced her tongue, nose, eyebrows and naval.  
Aaron, meanwhile, changed his ways; he became a devout Christian, became a heavy alcoholic, and a skater.  
The following year, two thousand and ten, Aaron and LeAnn checked themselves into a hospital for help; Aaron with drying out and LeAnn with overcoming her depression. After completing treatment, they both went back to a cleaned-up way of living.  
And thus it continued, until one day…

The End


End file.
